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Dear John,
This weekend, we learned that after largely successful court challenges, the Trump Pentagon is withdrawing some National Guard troops [[link removed]] from major U.S. cities.
The news came just days after NPP’s Hanna Homestead and The Intercept [[link removed]] calculated that the Trump regime’s occupations of U.S. cities like Chicago and Washington, D.C. are costing at least $473 million [[link removed]] so far.
The victory shows how the combination of well-founded legal challenges, popular opposition and good information can stop authoritarianism in its tracks.
Now, we’re turning our attention back to the Pentagon budget overall. The last thing this authoritarian Pentagon needs is more money to enable its bad actions.
And yet, after the longest government shutdown in U.S. history, Congress still hasn’t acted to save millions of Americans from spiking healthcare premiums - the whole ostensible reason for the shutdown. Preventing those healthcare cost spikes would cost about $35 billion per year [[link removed]] . But Senators have approved a $32 billion hike for the Pentagon [[link removed]] .
This Pentagon doesn’t deserve one more dime. We’ve joined a powerful coalition to oppose adding billions more to the Pentagon [[link removed]] budget.
We can stop authoritarianism and put our tax dollars to use helping ordinary people. Let’s keep at it.
In solidarity,
Alliyah, Hanna and Lindsay
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TRADEOFF: MILITARY IN OUR STREETS VS. AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE
The $473,265,435 [[link removed]] [[link removed]] spent so far on Trump's National Guard occupations in Washington DC, Los Angeles, Portland, Chicago, and Memphis could restore full Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies for nearly half a million people (465,000 people) .
Instead, Trump's deployments continue while millions of people will see their health insurance premiums spike, increasing by an average of $1,016 per enrollee [[link removed]] . The cost of these deployments is only rising the longer they go on, and any new deployments would drive the cost even higher.
Our cities are not training grounds. Our people should have affordable healthcare.
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Senator Roger Wicker (R-MS) is Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Photo courtesy of Getty Images [[link removed]]
SENATE CHOOSES $32 BILLION FOR PENTAGON OVER HEALTHCARE
As the government shutdown ends, millions of Americans who receive health insurance through government insurance marketplaces will see their health insurance premiums double (or more) [[link removed]] . Solving the problem was supposed to be the key to ending the shutdown, but in the end a group of Senators voted to reopen the government without a solution.
But in the midst of the shutdown, Senators were still busy. They approved a $32 billion increase for the Pentagon [[link removed]] on a bipartisan basis, approving the increase by a vote of 77-20 as part of a larger bill, the National Defense Authorization Act.
The price tag for a single year of extending the subsidies would be about $35 billion [[link removed]] , according to the Congressional Budget Office.
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Photo courtesy of Creative Commons [[link removed]]
7 PROGRESSIVE POLICY WINS FOR HUMAN NEEDS OVER MILITARISM
On Election Day, voters around the country chose fair taxation, food programs, and public schools, and said “no” to authoritarian city occupations and masked abductions of immigrants. The results were a repudiation of authoritarianism, oligarchy, and militarism - and strongly suggested voters still see the potential for government to do good.
Here are 7 examples of winning progressive issues [[link removed]] at the polls in November.
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“We demand an end to militarism, occupation, and genocide in Palestine and across the world, along with the defence of peoples’ rights. This entails dismantling military alliances, shutting down foreign bases, and protecting human rights and environmental defenders.”
– Opening statement for the 30th Conference of Parties (COP30) [[link removed]]
delivered by peoples movements and civil society
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READ/ WATCH/ LISTEN
Trump’s Military Occupations of U.S. Cities Cost $473 Million and Rising [[link removed]]
Nick Turse, The Intercept
MAGA Priorities: Golden Dome Over Hungry Families [[link removed]]
Hanna Homestead, National Priorities Project
The More Americans See of Trump’s Immigration Crackdown, The Less They Like It [[link removed]]
Alliyah Lusuegro, OtherWords
The Boeing Strike's Stopping Jets, But Workers Feel the Pinch [[link removed]]
Sophie Hurwitz, Inkstick
The US Military Is Destroying the Planet Beyond Imagination [[link removed]]
Abe Asher, Jacobin
DHS Is Funneling $10 Billion to the Navy to Build a Network of Immigration Jails [[link removed]]
Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! , Truthout
The top US military contractors cashing in on Caribbean operations [[link removed]]
Stavroula Pabst, Responsible Statecraft
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